Playing God

Unless you have been the survivor of a mass casualty incident like 9/11, the BP oil spill, Agent Orange, or the Central States pension plan battle, you probably don't know the name Kenneth R. Feinberg. If you have, you know it, and him, very well indeed. Feinberg was brought in by the Federal government on these and many other cases as Settlement Master, a title that for better and worse has earned him this documentary's eponymous epithet. At night, Feinberg listens to opera to quell the voices he's heard all day, those of victims or their grieving families. We meet the man's contradictions head on; he may be the first to tout his skills, but he also convenes with families and other complainants personally, internalizing their pain before meting out financial justice, which is not justice at all.—Judy Bloch

JUSTICE MATTERS

Playing God

Unless you have been the survivor of a mass casualty incident like 9/11, the BP oil spill, Agent Orange, or the Central States pension plan battle, you probably don't know the name Kenneth R. Feinberg. If you have, you know it, and him, very well indeed. Feinberg was brought in by the Federal government on these and many other cases as Settlement Master, a title that for better and worse has earned him this documentary's eponymous epithet. At night, Feinberg listens to opera to quell the voices he's heard all day, those of victims or their grieving families. We meet the man's contradictions head on; he may be the first to tout his skills, but he also convenes with families and other complainants personally, internalizing their pain before meting out financial justice, which is not justice at all.—Judy Bloch